The field of this invention relates generally to exercise equipment and their methods of use, and more particularly to a concave-shaped abdominal exercise bar accessory that may be attached to an overhead cable-and-pulley apparatus, or similar device providing resistance, and the method of using the abdominal exercise bar.
A variety of abdominal exercise machines and devices have become a popular alternative to old-fashioned sit-ups and sit-ups on incline benches to better isolate the abdominal muscles while reducing strain on the neck and lower back.
Health clubs with a high volume of members often use large stand-alone variable-resistance abdominal weight exercise machines, which are large and expensive. These machines are quickly adjustable to the size of the user, which allows a high rate of users per hour. Typical configurations entail the user sitting upright and placing his chest or front of his shoulders against a pad or bar that pivots downward, placing resistance against the downward rotation motion using a cable and weight system. They usually include foot or knee restraints that prevent the user's legs and butt from rising up when heavy weights are employed. By allowing considerable weight resistance, the user can quickly isolate and exhaust the abdominal muscles.
These devices are sometimes awkward and uncomfortable to use, forcing the bar or shoulder pads to rotate downward along a fixed path. While the radius of the arc is generally adjustable, allowing for users of varying height, one's torso does not naturally bend or crunch downward along a circular arced path. This fails to maximize the isolation of the abdominal muscles, often causing the user to engage her hip flexors as the fixed pathway forces her to bend in an unnatural posture.
Another limitation of these machines caused by the bar or shoulder pads being fixed to a rotating cam is that the bar is forced to remain parallel to the ground. This requires the user to perform only symmetrical crunches, limiting the exercise to the abdominal muscle areas along the centerline of the body. These machines prevent the user from performing a twisting crunch that would enable the user to work out a larger area of the abdominal muscles.
Another category of abdominal exercise devices comprise pivoting benches or arm rails that essentially assist the user in performing sit-ups. Versions found in gyms typically include benches with a fixed bench portion and foot restraints. Those marketed for home use tend to comprise a rotating or rolling frame or arm rails only, with no bench, requiring the user to lie on the floor. These devices do not employ weights or other resistance means; instead, they are isometric exercise devices that rely on the weight of the user's torso and head. They are also single-exercise devices designed solely to work the abdominal muscles, but are far less expensive than the abdominal weight exercise machines.
One problem of this category of popular devices is that the user may need to perform hundreds of continuous repetitions to effectively work out the abdominal muscles. A single set may take 10 to 30 minutes, and sometimes results in the user reaching aerobic exhaustion prior to muscle exhaustion, or frankly, first exhausting one's patience, or that of another gym member waiting to use the apparatus. Such extensive repetitions may strain the user's neck and back. Furthermore, gym versions of this category of devices that have foot restraints often result in the user engaging his hip flexors more than the abdominal muscles.
Smaller gyms, such as in hotels or home that tend to have far less traffic, often utilize multiple-exercise apparatuses to which several different accessories may be attached to a single pulley-and-weight station. These enable the user to exercise a variety of different muscle groups depending upon which accessory is attached. Such multiple-station machines take up less space and are less expensive than supplying the equivalent array of stand-alone machines, but they accommodate substantially fewer users per hour. Such apparatuses typically have a pulley-and-weight station directed from the ground up, requiring the user to pull some form of handle or bar upward, and an overhead pulley-and-weight station in which the user pulls an attached handle or bar downward. Often a moveable seat or bench, sometimes with foot or knee restraints, may be situated beneath the overhead station. While a variety of accessory handles and bars currently available to isolate a number of muscle groups, none are particularly designed to be as easy, comfortable or effective for exercising the abdominal muscles.
There are a plethora of miscellaneous stand-alone designs that do not fit into the above categories, such as exercise balls and sliding benches. One particular miscellaneous design relevant to the present invention is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,118 issued Jun. 16, 1998 to Conner. It employs a padded bar that forms the lower, horizontal bar of a triangular shaped device in which the user places her arms and head through the triangular opening, and rests her arms over the padded bar, crossing them horizontally, generally parallel to and opposite the padded bar relative to her chest. The top of the triangular bar system is connected to an elastic band, which is attached to the top of a door. The user sits on a bench or chair, and rotates downward, pulling the bar towards her thighs or knees. The elastic band provides resistance during this rotation or crunch. This system is relatively inexpensive, compact and allegedly portable, requiring only a door and chair.
The Conner system, however, fails to provide readily adjustable resistance, requiring multiple elastic bands to be employed to increase the resistance, which is quite cumbersome compared to moving a pin on a stack of weights. The elastic bands also fail to provide consistent resistance throughout the range of motion of the crunch, thereby maximizing the force against the abdominal muscles over a limited range of motion despite its 90-degree range of motion. Furthermore, the device pulls the user forward, off the chair, because of the forward angle of the elastic bands due to its placement atop a door, instead of directly above the user.